


rebirth

by Ghostoshima



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Canonical Character Death, Character Development, Cigarettes, Death, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Goodsprings (Fallout), Independent New Vegas (Fallout), Nothing much happens, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Primm (Fallout), canon divergence - fallout: new vegas, cats aren't extinct, just build-up for now, the beginning of a series of fics..., young courier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:07:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23572102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostoshima/pseuds/Ghostoshima
Summary: she is the courier six, when the air entered her lungs, she wondered if this is what death felt like.





	1. burn

_‘ You’re awake. How ‘bout that. ’_

For the first time in years, she felt **awake.**

* * *

The side of her head had been shaven where the bullet was extracted, the bandages looked ugly wrapped around her head, she hid it as well as she could behind the locks of her blonde hair. She examined herself in the bathroom mirror—bloodshot eyes, dark shadows painting the bags under her eyes, her hair was a frizzled mess. She looked like shit but she felt unsure of just how she was supposed to feel. 

_Ramona._

At least, she remembered her name, when she presented it to Trudy at the Prospector Saloon, seated behind the bar.

No, she didn’t know where that checkered suited asshole went. No one did. Figures. But he was once there, he stopped in for a drink along with a group. At least, she didn’t dream him up. Between her fingers, she held a lit cigarette, in her other hand, she held a glass of whiskey on the rocks. She hadn’t smoked before, rarely drank, it felt fucking _good,_ she wasn’t sure why she hadn’t done it before. She was too small, too soft maybe… Though she coughed, the burn soothed her bones where they ached, the cigarette added to it. Ramona fished out the caps she earned from the courier job—did it really matter if she used a little bit of it to pay for her drink? She _earned_ it. 

“Your radio?” She said, slipping the caps onto the counter.

“Hm?” Trudy turned her attention to her.

“Your radio? That checked suit asshole, he broke it?"

“They knocked it down, yeah…”

Ramona had tinkered with it, smacked to the side, fixed it up to the best. It turned on but it still had some fuzz to it. Trudy paid in caps. 

That felt good.

Not the earning of caps but the deed she had done. It felt _good._ It wasn’t at all like the courier job. People needed her with the packages yet that felt empty… she didn’t enjoy it as much as she liked to. This was a different kind of need that she could get behind. 

That’s what she originally wanted to do. That’s what she originally thought she could do with the courier job she took on. Instead, it got her shot. It sucked. Ramona found herself smirking a little at the thought of it.

“What’re you smiling for?” Trudy asked.

“Oh, nothing… Say, do you need help with anything else?” 

Couldn’t hurt to do a little more. Sunny needed some help, it seemed. Sunny could help her show her how to shoot a gun—ridiculous, Ramona knew how to shoot a gun. A small one maybe, but she learned!

God, how on Earth did she survive before this?

She thought she heard the name _Powder Gangers_ whispered amongst the patrons as she was led outside.

_Hm, wonder what that’s about._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a ( slow ) start for what i hope will be a series of fics for my courier six. she has a roleplay blog on tumblr via LOTUSKISSED.


	2. jobs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this was her first package

Ramona was a small thing—frail, hands firmly gripping the strap of her bag where she carried the parcels. Her boots were untied. She bent down to tie them, someone bumped into her, she fell on her front, face almost hitting the broken concrete. To her side, one of the other couriers shook their heads, sighing, some of them snickering, Ramona got back, dusting herself off, face hot with embarrassment. It didn’t help that she was the youngest and the _smallest_ , at 5’2’’, amongst the other couriers. Daniel Wyand tsked at her direction. 

Johnson Nash lined them all up for their delivery jobs. For some, it was their fourth, fifth, sixth jobs, they collected the wrapped parcels and stashed them away in their bags, listening for their directions. Some of them didn’t even need to dot them down in a notepad somewhere, they knew where they had to go. Knots form in her stomach with a side of butterflies that fluttered freely at the pit of it; Ramona shifted in place on her spot of the line. 

This was her first job, she couldn’t afford to fuck up if she wanted to impress her superiors. 

_Remember, you’re only doing this job for the caps, you need the caps so your family can move west. You don’t gotta impress_ **_everyone._ **

But Ramona hated the way everyone looked at her, their eyes scanned her up and down, their hushed tones when they spoke to Nash…

_‘Are you sure? She’s just a kid…’_

She knew. She was doing this for her _family._

They didn’t ask for help, she _wanted_ to help, it was the least she could do for leaving so suddenly, but she couldn’t live _there_ anymore. It was too tainted. She could only hope that they would see her way, that they’ll pack their things and move as far as the Mojave desert. 

To Vegas. Where her heart lied. 

That city of lights bloomed in her mind, just as she saw in the postcard… 

When Ramona’s turn was up, she wrote the directions down in her notepad. Unlike the others, she hadn’t been used to the area just yet. Squinting at the pad, she realized that the area she was to go to was quite aways. She was hoping it would’ve been closer to Vegas. In fact, this area had been further away, closer to New California. 

_I’m gonna have to hire another bodyguard, with what little I have…_

She was saving those caps to relocate her family, it wasn’t cheap. 

Ramona tucked away her pad, accepting the parcel—her first job, there was some weight to that. She shrugged that away, it was still a job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a flashback chapter ; the job isn't the infamous platinum chip job but a familiar one nonetheless...


End file.
